


she could put a lion on a leash

by drusillaes



Series: Achilles & Patroclus [6]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Royalty, Alternate Universe - Spies & Secret Agents, Blodreina is her own warning, Captivity, F/F, Friends to Lovers to Enemies to Lovers, Lovers To Enemies, Murderous Octavia, Non-Sexual Bondage, Possessive Octavia, Subterfuge, Torture (discussed), if you want to get technical about it, more to be added - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-17
Updated: 2019-06-18
Packaged: 2020-05-13 06:56:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19246105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/drusillaes/pseuds/drusillaes
Summary: “We’ll send in our best spies,” Bellamy assures.“Your best aren’t good enough,” Clarke replies, her voice devoid of emotion. “She’s executed them all in the past.”The weapons commander, Raven Reyes, hops onto the table. “We’ll have to send someone who isn’t a spy. Octavia knows their tricks.”Their eyes find Niylah's. Her loyalty has always belonged to Clarke -the blonde doesn't even need to ask."I'll do it."Niylah is sent to spy on the Red Queen and in the ensuing a game of violence, deceit, and intrigue, a connection sparks between the girl with nothing and the Queen with everything to lose.





	1. i'll fucking digest you one kiss at a time

“You were really very brave, little spy.” The cold of the dungeon floor has long numbed Niylah’s knees, and she stares defiantly ahead. Her dirty hands are chained to the floor. She’s uncomfortable, but her face is furiously neutral.  
The boots that pace towards her are covered in blood and chips of glittering metal. The Red Queen drops to her knees. Her fingers catch Niylah’s chin, a possessive gesture. “Speak, girl. Who sent you? Roan? Clarke? My beloved brother?”  
“Maybe I just wanted to see the Red Queen in person.”  
Her green eyes are almost amused at Niylah’s defiance.  
“Is that so?”  
“Perhaps.”  
“Then tell me, spy, what do you think of her?”  
“Her dungeon’s a little drafty,” Niylah allows her cracked lips to tug into a smile. Blodreina doesn’t return the smile. “But she’s alright, I guess.”  
“Niylah.” Octavia’s gaze softens. “You don’t want to do this the hard way. Just tell me who sent you and I’ll let you live. You can have a place in my court.”  
“I’m sorry, your majesty, but I can’t do that,” And Niylah really is sorry, if that means anything. But her loyalty is not her own to give.  
Blodreina stares for a second longer, willing Niylah to change her mind, before she stands. “I’ll visit you tomorrow.”  
“I look forward to it,” Niylah says softly, and she’s smiling with a little bit of insanity because she’s concerned that her words might not be a lie after all.  
Octavia turns to look at her once more before she leaves the dungeon.

 

* * *

 

**_six months earlier_ **

“Are you alright, milady?”  
Niylah’s footsteps are soft on the carpet. She knows that nobody but her will ever see Clarke like this, on her knees and crying softly.  
“I’ll be fine,” Clarke says in a voice that’s choked with tears. She turns, and her eyes have never looked bluer against the red of her face. “I should go check on Bellamy.”“Collect yourself.” Niylah takes Clarke’s hands and helps her stand. “Wipe your tears and come to the bathroom.”  
“She’s made it personal,” Clarke snarls, but she follows Niylah obediently. “I’ll kill that Queen myself, mark my words.”  
At first, Clarke’s war against the Soldier-Queen of Wonkru had been inherited after she’d allied Skaikru with King Bellamy of Arkadia. But it had become personal when the Red Queen’s spies had got a hold of Clarke’s lover. Bellamy’s scouts had reported Finn Collins’ body hanging from the Red Queen’s east wall, a desiccated corpse with lips stained red. A mockery of Clarke for daring to have feelings.

When they meet again in the War Room, Clarke has reapplied her battle paint. She looks nothing like the sobbing girl Niylah had been comforting. No, this is Wanheda with her molten eyes and her hands splayed on a map.  
“We’ll send in our best spies,” Bellamy assures.“Your best aren’t good enough,” Clarke replies, her voice devoid of emotion. “She’s executed them all in the past.”  
The weapons commander, Raven Reyes, hops onto the table. “We’ll have to send someone who isn’t a spy. Octavia knows their tricks.”“Don’t call her by that name,” Bellamy seethes. Niylah doesn’t know the full history between the King of Arkadia and the Soldier-Queen of Wonkru. All she knows is they had been siblings and co-rulers until Octavia staged the bloodiest uprising in all of Arkadian history and took two-thirds of their shared territory for her own.  
“Fine. Blodreina knows their tricks,” Raven says.  
“We could ally with Lexa in the North,” Bellamy says contemplatively. “She’d have tricks they haven’t seen yet.”  
“No. We need to do this now,” Clarke interrupts.  
“Nobody’s smart enough to be under Octavia without her noticing,” Bellamy says, and nobody mentions his slip of his sister’s name.  
Raven scoffs. “Excuse —”  
“Nobody we can spare,” Bellamy says with a quelling look at the former mechanic.  
Somehow, their eyes find Niylah's. Her loyalty has always belonged to Clarke -the blonde doesn't even need to ask.  
"I'll do it.”


	2. you wish i was yours and you know that you're mine

**_now_ **

“Are you going to kill her, my Queen? Because I can send someone -”

Octavia holds up a hand and her Head of the Guard stops talking. She cannot _conceive_ the idea of Niylah’s last breath belonging to someone else. No, if Niylah’s blood is spilled it will be by her hands and hers alone.

She says none of this aloud, however. “I haven’t decided yet, Cooper.”

“Of course, your majesty.”  
“Don’t treat her too well.”

 

* * *

 

**_five months and two weeks earlier_ **

“You remember everything I’ve taught you?” Echo asks. She rearranges Niylah’s hair around her face -it’s loose from her usual braid, and the subtle makeup that Echo’s servants had used make Niylah’s eyes look wider and cover her scars.

“There’s nothing to be done about the tattoos, but you’ll wear covering clothing,” Echo had mused, tracing the edge of a fingernail down Niylah’s back tattoo as if she wanted to claw it free of her skin.

“Stop pestering her, love,” Emori is by the window, packing Niylah’s bag. Like always, her gentle chiding soothes Echo’s edges. “And you know when to leave the messages?”  
“Every other full moon, under the outer edge of her west wall,” Niylah repeats obediently, and is rewarded with a hint of a smile from Echo. “Good luck, spy.”

Niylah nods, and falls into Emori’s gentle embrace. “She’s worried about you,” Emori whispers into her hair, and Niylah rubs Emori’s back and nods. “I’ll survive,” she says. “I always do.”

They separate. “Goodbye, Niylah,” Echo says softly, as if she’s sending Niylah straight to her grave. Niylah can’t find it in herself to meet the Spy-Queen’s dark eyes, so she nods and leaves the room.

 

Clarke, Bellamy, and Raven are dressed in their full regalia to send her off.  
“Good luck,” Bellamy says in his noblest tone. Clarke embraces Niylah, and whispers into her ear, “ _Thank you.”_

 _“My oath belongs to you, Clarke,”_ Niylah reminds her, almost chastisingly. “ _I would die for my Wanheda, the liberator of my people.”_

Clarke breaks the embrace first. “You’re one of the bravest women I’ve ever known,” she says, and it’s a pretty lie to deck Niylah’s weighted shoulders, so she nods and says “Thank you.”

“I want a hug too,” Raven teases with a gentle smile. Niylah has never really connected with the dark-haired mechanic, so she is surprised -at least until Raven pulls her close and whispers into her ear, _“If she finds out about you, kill her. Bellamy will never give the order, so I am.”_

Niylah’s eyes widen, but Raven is already pulling away. She smiles at Niylah, but her brown eyes flash urgency. _Kill her_.


	3. i took a sip from my devil's cup

**_now_ **

“Have you reconsidered my offer?”  
“To be your pet in a gilded cage? I’d rather die.” Niylah allows derision to slink into her voice then, and Octavia almost looks hurt. But to her credit, the warrior-queen recovers quickly. “Maybe one day I’ll decide it isn’t up to you, _pet_.” Her fingers curl into Niylah’s hair and release just as quickly. “Luckily for you, today isn’t that day.”

The Red Queen pulls a water bottle from her bag, takes a swig herself, and offers it to Niylah. “Would you like some?”  
It’s out of reach of her chains and they both know it. Niylah doesn’t sully her dignity by trying to stretch for it. “Are you going to give it to me or not?”

“How about this.” Octavia’s eyes are measured and her tone calculating. “Tell me something I didn’t already know, and for each fact I’ll give you a sip.”  
“If you think I’m going to betray Cl -” Niylah’s tone cuts off sharply but Octavia’s already smiling, her cat eyes glittering. “Clarke, huh?”  
Niylah doesn’t bother protesting. It’s useless, the secret out.  
“Well, thank you, Niylah.” Octavia puts the water bottle to her prisoner’s lips, and, desperate and thirsty, Niylah takes a deep sip.

When she swallows, Octavia pulls back. “As much as I appreciated that little fact about Clarke, I actually meant things about yourself. If you won’t betray your little Sky Queen, tell me about her spy.”

“Niylah’s my real name,” Niylah says, after some consideration. She’s parched, and nothing has tasted sweeter in her life than Octavia’s water. “My favorite color is blue. My mother belonged to Flokru.”

Octavia nods, satisfied, and puts the bottle to Niylah’s lips again. Niylah drinks, deeply.  
“I’m glad we could work something out,” Octavia says, as if this hasn’t been a waste of time, as if Niylah’s information had been as valuable as a map of Clarke’s kingdom. Then again, Niylah had revealed who she worked for.

_Idiot._

Echo would never have given up information, even under torture.

Niylah was never meant to be a spy.

 

* * *

 

**_five months and one week earlier_ **

It took one week for Niylah to secure a job at the Red Queen’s palace. She sticks to her cover story -she’s a nomad who found a taste for the city life, and just wants a place to sleep and a way to pay for food.

She starts out as a kitchen maid, but by day two she’s already scouting the palace, trying to find her way to the Red Queen’s quarters.

“Looking for something?”

Niylah spins at the stranger’s words and realizes that she’s entirely lost.

The other girl has long dark hair worn loose, with only a few braids in it. Commoner style, like Niylah used to wear hers before she was taken into Clarke’s employ. “I’m sorry, did I interrupt your getting lost?”

Niylah forces herself to smile, reminding herself that she doesn’t know who this commoner could be. After all, rumor had it that Queen Octavia often chose nobodies as advisors and spies. “Was it that obvious?”  
“Painfully so,” the girl laughs. She extends a hand that Niylah takes, but instead of offering a name, she says, “Where are you trying to go?”

“The kitchen,” Niylah replies. There’s no point in trying to find Octavia’s chambers this late. “I’m a kitchen maid here. Niylah,”

The girl’s eyes are expectant, but when Niylah says nothing else, she shrugs. “You’re a long way from the kitchen, Niylah. I assume you need a guide?”

“Yes please.”

The girl gets Niylah to the kitchen quickly, using various secret passages and doors hidden behind tapestries. “I owe you one…” Niylah trails off, hoping for the girl’s name.  
“Aurora.”

“Thank you, Aurora.”

“Of course. Helping pretty girls is just a perk of living here.”

But before Niylah can find out more about Aurora, the girl has disappeared back into her secret passageways.

 

Niylah tries to remember the way they went that night, sketching it on the floor under her cot, but the only image that comes to her head is that of Aurora’s green eyes.


	4. count my cards, watch them fall

**_now_ **

“So she works for Clarke,”That’s the first thing Indra says when Octavia walks into the room.

“You’re a pleasure as usual, Indra,” Octavia drawls. She snaps her fingers and one of the pale, skinny servants runs to get her a drink, almost tripping over her own feet. “Yes, she said that Clarke sent her.”  
“And what did you do to get her to talk?” Indra’s tone is disapproving, and Octavia smirks.

“Wouldn’t _you_ like to know.”

“My spies say that Clarke has allied herself with —well, with Bellamy, Blodreina.”

Octavia’s fingers tighten on her glass. “My darling brother,” she muses. “We should’ve expected this.”

“Do you want my advice, my Queen?”

It’s the formal way Indra addresses her that surprises Octavia. Indra had been her advisor since before Wonkru, since she was just Princess Octavia, cast dark in the shadow of her older brother’s brilliance. Octavia nods, caught off guard. “Always.”

“Stop worrying about the prisoner. Cooper and her guards can take over interrogating her. I’m sorry she played with your heart, Blodreina, but —”

“I don’t _have_ a heart, Indra,” Octavia snarls. She drops her glass because she can, watches the glass shatter, watches the servants panic and scrabble to clean it up with a detached eye. The wine looks like blood on her white floor.

“Blodreina…”  
“I’ve heard enough.” Octavia stands.  
“Are you going to the dungeons, my Queen?”

Octavia casts a glare over her shoulder. The weight of her armor has never felt heavier. “Get out of my sight, Indra.”

 

* * *

 

**_five months and two days earlier_ **

Aurora stops by the kitchen again. Studiously, the other kitchen staff avoid looking at her, as if she’s a supernova. Aurora doesn’t seem to notice, instead she grabs Niylah’s hands and pulls her out of the kitchen.

“I have work to do,” Niylah protests weakly.  
“It’ll be there when you’re done,” Aurora says with a smile. “Come on. I want to show you something.”

 

They sneak onto the roof of the castle -Aurora doesn’t answer when Niylah asked her how she procured the keys. The sun is just rising -Niylah hadn’t even realized she’d been working so late -and it’s a beautiful sight.  
“Breathtaking, isn’t it?”

The sunrise paints Aurora in golds and pinks and violets, and all Niylah can think about is how the girl would look in a crown.

Aurora turns to look at her. “Niylah?”

Niylah wants to kiss her. “It’s very pretty,” she says, her throat suddenly dry.

 

They sit on the roof as the sun goes up and talk. Niylah is careful to stick to her backstory, and Aurora seems willing to accept it.

“Aurora’s a really pretty name,” Niylah observes, and it sounds like a line, but it isn’t. Aurora smiles. “It was my mother’s.”  
“Is she…”

“Yes.”

“I’m sorry.” Niylah reaches out and takes Aurora’s hand, squeezes it. Aurora looks at her like nobody’s ever touched her before.

“It’s okay.”

“It isn’t. I lost my mother when I was young. The Mountain Kings took her, made her a slave.”

“I’m sorry,” Aurora repeats. The words fit awkwardly in her mouth. Niylah smiles softly. “I still think about her.”

“And your father?”

“Dead as well.”  
“So you’re an orphan.” Aurora’s voice doesn’t sound critical. “Like me. Do you have any siblings?”  
“No.”

“Lucky girl,” Something in Aurora’s smile is tight, pinched, and Niylah falls silent.

 

They stay like that until the sun is high in the sky.


	5. you make me feel out of my element (like i'm walking on broken glass)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> some sexy things ensue
> 
> also, we finally get some braven(larke) shenanigans

**now**

“I’m sure Niylah’s fine,” Raven murmurs into his shoulder. He’s too tense. How many people have to die at his sister’s hands before Bellamy gets her under control.

“She’s a smart woman. She can take care of herself,” Raven continues. Raven never says a thing unless she means it, and while usually Bellamy would find her words reassuring, he can’t.

Clarke pushes open the door and sweeps in unannounced -“Bellamy, we have to talk -” but her little pink mouth falters when she sees Bellamy and Raven lying in bed together. Bellamy scrambles to pull the sheets over their entwined bodies, up to their shoulders.

Raven gives a cheeky little wave, causing the sheet to slip off one toned shoulder, and Bellamy shoots a dirty look at his lover before returning his eyes to the blonde. “What is it, Clarke?”

Clarke composes herself remarkably quickly, after seeing Bellamy and Raven’s most intimate parts. “Still no word from Niylah. I’m beginning to worry.”  
“If Niylah was dead, we’d know by now,” Raven points out, still lounging in Bellamy’s red silk sheets. They look striking against her bare skin, and by the slight widening of Clarke’s eyes, Bellamy can tell he isn’t the only one who’s noticed. “Blodreina would be mailing us her head, or pinning her body to the ramparts, or sending us letters written in her blood.”  
“That’s my sister you’re talking about,” Bellamy says mildly. “You’re right, though. If Blodreina isn’t gloating, that’s a very good sign.”

 

* * *

 

**_four months and three weeks earlier_ **

Niylah had been needed as a server as the Red Queen knighted her new arrivals.

On the outside, Niylah had merely acquiesced to the head cook’s demand, but on the inside, her heart was beating fast. Finally, she’d get a look at the infamous Blake sister. The woman that killed Clarke’s love.

 

But now, struck dumb, Niylah stands by the podium, her tray forgotten in her hands, as a painfully familiar face, not dressed in a servant’s grays and browns but in the harsh black and silver armor of Blodreina, with face paint making her green eyes somehow more brilliant and more noticeable, gives her speech.

The woman who’d introduced herself as Aurora doesn’t give Niylah more than a passing glance. She gives a speech full of victory and violence and war, before knighting a boy called Ilian as hepromises his heart, his soul, and his hands to her cause and her victory.

Niylah feels sick.

 

“Niylah, wait!” Aurora - _Octavia_ -finds her after the ceremony. Niylah hadn’t noticed the Red Queen glance at her once, but she must have, must have seen her shock and horror, because there’s apologies a thousandfold in those ever-so-human eyes.

Niylah’s eyes find the floor. “Your majesty.”

“Niylah, please. It’s still me.” Octavia seems almost embarrassed. Niylah realizes the opportunity this could be -but she lifts her eyes slowly, careful not to show too much eagerness. ( _if she finds out about you, kill her.)_

“Why dress up as a servant? Why lie to me?”

Octavia looks surprised at how directly Niylah addresses her, and just as Niylah thinks she’s miscalculated and she’s about to be thrown in a dungeon, Octavia tucks a lock of dark hair behind her own ear. It’s a girlish sort of gesture, not befitting a rebel queen, but it sets Niylah at ease. “I didn’t mean to lie to you, Niylah. It’s just…well, everyone knows who I am. Everyone’s scared of me. And you…you weren’t. I took advantage of that. I’m sorry.”

“Was Aurora really your mother’s name?”

Octavia’s eyes are cool and even and Niylah thinks, horribly, _this is a girl I could fall in love with_.

She says, “Yes.”

Niylah nods. _Let her take the initiative,_ Echo had said in one of her many, many lessons on how to bait a girl turned tyrant.

“So, what happens now?” Niylah asks.

 

 _What happens now_ is Niylah in Octavia’s four poster bed, back arching as Octavia unravels her with the mere movements of her tongue.  
“You’re so beautiful,” Octavia pants in her ear. “Coming apart for me,”

“ _Octavia_ ,” Niylah sighs, and then she comes.

 

They spend the rest of the afternoon lying in Octavia’s bed. The silk sheets are red and they make Octavia look like she’s swimming in a sea of blood. Appropriate for Blodreina.

“Nobody else calls me Octavia,” Octavia muses. She traces Niylah’s tattoo.  
“I’m sorry,” Niylah says, stiffening, but Octavia is unbothered. “I like it. It’s all, Blodreina this, Your Majesty that. They see me as a symbol.” She kisses Niylah’s jawline. “You see me as a human.”

“You’re the same girl I fell in love with on that castle rooftop,” Niylah turns in Octavia’s embrace so she can see the sincerity in her eyes. _(you’re not this good an actress.)_

Octavia smiles sadly. “I wish I was.”

**Author's Note:**

> i'm a slut for blodreina!octavia, have you noticed yet?


End file.
